Groupon moves into flash fashion market

Groupon has purchased flash fashion retailer Ideeli, the latest in a string of acquisitions in the past year designed to revamp its business and find new sources of revenue.

The purchase of Ideeli marks Groupon's bet on fashion and flash sales as well as its interest in beefing up its mobile expertise. The purchase follows a string of other acquisitions in recent months including SideTour, TicketMonster and last-minute travel app Blink.

The Ideeli deal, which closed Monday, was for $43 million in cash. Ideeli will maintain its headquarters in New York and continue to operate as a separate company, according to a statement from Groupon. According to Groupon CEO Eric Lefkofsky:

"Our customers have a demonstrated appetite for these offers, and by broadening our reach in this space Groupon is even better positioned as the place you start when you want to do or buy just about anything, anytime, anywhere."

Groupon's customers might have a "demonstrated appetite" for flash sales, but as the daily deal site knows consumers can be a fickle bunch. There have rumblings for months that flash sales are a fad. Last year, flash site Totsy liquidated its assets, Rue La La has scaled back and Fab pivoted away from flash sales.